As a starter or main course, accompanied by potatoes or small vegetables, steamed or boiled, it's safe to say that veal head is a dish with taste!

While some people prefer it with a ravigote sauce (a vinaigrette sauce with capers, parsley, chervil, tarragon and chopped onions), others prefer it with a gribiche sauce (made with eggs, shallots and gherkins)!

Veal's head and history

A typical French dish, calf's head is traditionally eaten in winter, particularly on 21 January. On that day in 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded, and since then the heirs of the sans-culottes have commemorated the fall of the absolute monarchy of divine right by eating this dish, a symbol of the 'pig king'.

Ingredients to prepare the veal head

Which restaurants serve tête de veau?

Head of veal, a favourite dish of the late President Jacques Chirac, proudly features in our local recipe books.
So take note! To your delight, some of our chefs offer it in their establishments: